fairy tales – Nerdisthttp://nerdist.com
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 17:11:25 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1These Handcrafted Pendants Depict Your Favorite Fairy Taleshttp://nerdist.com/these-handcrafted-pendants-depict-your-favorite-fairy-tales/
Tue, 29 Dec 2015 06:00:18 +0000http://nerdist.com/?p=343757Do you remember the first time you heard certain fairy tales? Maybe it was beside a fireplace radiating warmth or maybe it was while you were in bed with the blankets pulled up to your chin. Fairy tales are the sort of stories that stick with you, and Etsy Shop Lali Blue has managed to capture the magic of those stories in wearable form with handcrafted necklaces. I’d imagine putting on one of these necklaces is like wearing a storybook.

Each pendant is a mini shadowbox. Gemma Jericó Arnal and Cristina Arnau Tena run the Etsy store and design and make the sweet pendants from natural wood frames around layers of paper. The characters and backgrounds in the center of the necklaces are put on different layers to give them depth–sort of like a pop-up book. Their work features favorites such as Alice in Wonderland, Bambi, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Little Mermaid. I’m utterly charmed. Look:

I appreciate how the frames are part of the story, too. They’re not just rectangles or circles. Attention to detail is neat. Can I just run away into these necklaces and hide forever?

You can see more examples of the intricate fairy tale necklaces in the gallery below. If you’re itching to wear one around your neck, head to Lali Blue’s Etsy shop. All the designs pictured here are $27.93 plus shipping.

Are you adding any or all of these pendants to your wish list? Head to the comments and tell me about your favorites.

]]>Why You Should Watch ONCE UPON A TIMEhttp://nerdist.com/why-you-should-watch-once-upon-a-time/
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 21:00:25 +0000http://nerdist.com/?p=310269When Once Upon a Time premiered on ABC in 2011, I wasn’t sold. The fairy tale series had promising aspects, but the story was all over the place. The villains switched from bad to good and back at the bat of an eye, the CGI was shaky, and the dialogue ventured into the territory of downright corny. However, the premise was solid–an Evil Queen had cursed the residents of the Enchanted Forest, wiped their memories, and brought them to the fictional “real world” town of Storybrooke–and I liked the idea of seeing my favorite characters from fairy tales and Disney films on a weekly basis. And when you’re in a realm that features places like the Enchanted Forest and people like Snow White, some camp isn’t a bad thing. I stuck with the show created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, and it’s come a long way in four seasons and found its stride. There are plenty of reasons to watch Once Upon a Time (or to give it another chance if you bailed after Season 1).

The primary hook (pun intended) is that the series stars characters you know but with twists. Familiar stories are flipped on their heads and/or expanded into something new. Most of the time, this is excellent. Other times, you get a version of Little Bo Peep who is a warlord. No, really. The mythology has built over time and because the show features regular flashbacks, you’re constantly learning new background tidbits that give characters and their choices depth.

Let’s go back to warlord Bo Peep for a moment. Though that particular interpretation wasn’t my cuppa, the fact that it’s even an option is sort of wonderful. The show isn’t afraid to embrace the silly aspects of being set in a world where fairy tales exist. You can see this in the characters, the subplots, and in the costumes. Oh my goodness, the costumes. They’re intricate and add so much. They walk the same lines as the story, too. For example, it would be easy for the Evil Queen’s over-the-top gowns to come across as gaudy, but they don’t. In this setting (and with the help of Lana Parrilla’s regal manner), Regina’s elaborate ensembles are powerful and stunning.

The cheese factor definitely adds a fun appeal not quite like anything else on television, but that’s not to say that Once doesn’t tackle heavy material. After Season 1, characters’ arcs became more interesting. Villains have started to become more heroic, and heroes have taken actions you wouldn’t expect. These changes didn’t happen overnight. Different situations and external influences stretched out over time, giving characters space to stretch their legs and decide which side they want to be on. Heartbreak, love, loss, self-discovery, and adventure have all happened along the way. And because it wouldn’t make sense for every villain to be redeemed or every hero to fall, there are still more extreme archetypes on every side for balance.

Guest stars sweep into Storybrooke for varying periods of time – some of them overstay their welcome (I’m looking at you Peter Pan and Elsa) — but the series shines when it focuses on its ensemble cast. Getting to know Emma, Snow White, Prince Charming, Regina, Rumpelstiltskin, Belle, and so many more faces is worth the price of admission. Each character gets his or her own moment to shine and watching them all learn to work together and/or stay out of each other’s path is a delight. Also, trying at times.

Once Upon a Time will make you laugh, cry, occasionally roll your eyes, and feel nostalgic about the Disney animated films you watched as a kid. I won’t pretend Once is perfect. I can’t. However, it is enjoyable, often clever, and almost always entertaining.

Season 5 of Once Upon a Time will premiere on September 27 at 8:00pm ET/PT on ABC. You can stream past seasons at Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and iTunes.

Are you a Oncer? Head to the comments and share why you think people should check out the series (or why they shouldn’t). Please keep your comments spoiler-free.

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Image Credits: ABC

]]>Review: INTO THE WOODShttp://nerdist.com/review-into-the-woods/
http://nerdist.com/review-into-the-woods/#commentsFri, 19 Dec 2014 18:45:00 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=207345Modern movie musicals for me land somewhere between “Yeah, all right,” and “Buh, no thank you.” I have a hard time with musicals not on a stage. They just seem too artificial to be anywhere else. That being said, I can usually appreciate the artistry and craft it takes to make such big pictures with lots of moving parts. I expected not to care much for Rob Marshall’s Into the Woods just based on idea of it existing alone. I’ve never seen the show Into the Woods but I knew enough to know that it was essentially poking fun at the Disney way fairytales are presented, and for it to be made at Disney seemed destined for catastrophe. However, I have to say this wasn’t the case and I was pleasantly surprised. For most of it.

Based, of course, on the Stephen Sondheim musical, Into the Woods is a retelling of a number of classic fairy tales (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk) all set in the same universe, and indeed the same general area, with all characters living near the fabled Woods, which happen to be in just about every old story. (Sidebar: Were “the woods” so prevalent back in the day?) Each of the main characters are wishing for something and a witch (Meryl Streep) is one who can both help people with their wishes and has a wish of her own. She tells the baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt), who desperately want a child but can’t conceive, that she will lift the spell she placed on their house if they are able to retrieve several incongruous items, including a white cow, a gold slipper, a red cape, and golden hair. If they do so before midnight on the third day, they’ll get their wish. Luckily, people from other fairy tales are in the woods as well and each happen to have the things the couple need.

Now, as I said before, I have never seen this musical before and so have no attachment to it either way, but I was really delighted by most of it. I thought all of the actors did a really fantastic job (with one exception I’ll get to later). There were people I knew were great singers like Streep and Anna Kendrick, who plays Cinderella, and they didn’t disappoint, but I was pretty surprised with how funny Chris Pine was as Prince Charming. The swaggering d-bag character came very easy to him. All of the big musical number set pieces I thought were excellent, and that’s usually where I start to doze in a movie musical. Here, though, not particularly fancily-shot, but a solid showcase for the voices, and the comedy.

The one bit people knew was going to be crap the moment it was announced was with Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) and The Wolf (Johnny Depp). In the stage play, The Wolf’s interactions with Red have quite sexual overtones. However, in this adaptation, anything too forward would be inappropriate for a Disney film. As a result, they cut out a huge amount of the Wolf’s stuff to the point that now Depp is in one song and one little tiny bit of one other scene, and we only get references to what he “showed” the young lass. He’s also terrible in it, and his costume looks like a reject from Cats — not a wolf at all. The whole thing felt so out of place.

Now for most of the running time, I was saying to myself, “Why, this is a lot of fun. I wonder why people were worried.” And then we got to the second half of the play, the dour and sad part. That only takes up maybe a half-hour or 40 minutes of screentime, I’d bet, and so it just felt incredibly rushed. A lot of it felt like it was coming out of nowhere and the character motivations didn’t make sense with what we’d seen onscreen. I’m sure there are huge swaths of the play that fans will be sad are missing, but I was blissfully ignorant and only acknowledged it as awkward within what I was seeing.

That all being said, I found myself liking most of the film and REALLY enjoying the performances and so for that I, surprisingly, would recommend people go see this. It’ll make good holiday and family viewing, just don’t expect a thoroughly faithful adaptation, or one that’s even all there.

3 out of 5 Burritos

]]>http://nerdist.com/review-into-the-woods/feed/4Because Grimm’s Fairy Tales Weren’t For Kids, Now You Can Buy the Scary Uncut First Edition Translated Into English for the First Time!http://nerdist.com/because-grimms-fairy-tales-werent-for-kids-now-you-can-buy-the-scary-uncut-first-edition-translated-into-english-for-the-first-time/
http://nerdist.com/because-grimms-fairy-tales-werent-for-kids-now-you-can-buy-the-scary-uncut-first-edition-translated-into-english-for-the-first-time/#commentsSun, 23 Nov 2014 23:00:44 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=203696In a world where pop culture favorites like Once Upon A Time and Wicked tell us the “real story” behind classic literary and fairy tale characters, and Disney is adapting its classic animated stories into feature films to then reimagine them again into new family friendly heartwarming tales, it might be hard to remember that the original stories on which these iconic fairy tale characters are based weren’t so friendly in the first place. In fact, the original Brothers Grimm stories featuring Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and The Frog Prince are actually incredibly scary, violent and super messed up.

Now, after hundreds of years of storytelling, translator and editor Jack Zipes has assembled The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, the first ever English translation of the first edition of the iconic collection. Zipes describes the first edition of stories as “curt, blunt, raw.” Zipes also mentions that the first edition is important because one can still feel the beginnings of the iconic text before revisions entered the picture, explaining, “If one studies the seven editions published by the Grimms, one can trace the continual editing of Wilhelm Grimm, who transformed the tales into aesthetically pleasing literary works. He also deleted many tales that appeared to be French stories, and he added Christian references, folk proverbs, ornate description, and moralistic comments.” Zipes, while speaking to The Guardian added, “It is time for parents and publishers to stop dumbing down the Grimms’ tales for children.”

The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm was illustrated by Andrea Dezsö whose art has been seen and recognized around the world. Watch the book trailer below for a glimpse at Dezsö’s gorgeous illustrations and a look inside the original versions of the Grimms Fairy Tails we all know today.

]]>http://nerdist.com/because-grimms-fairy-tales-werent-for-kids-now-you-can-buy-the-scary-uncut-first-edition-translated-into-english-for-the-first-time/feed/6CINDERELLA Made the King in the North Shave His Beard in Film’s New Trailerhttp://nerdist.com/cinderella-made-the-king-in-the-north-shave-his-beard-in-films-new-trailer/
Thu, 20 Nov 2014 01:00:59 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=202783Man that Cinderella sure has good taste, doesn’t she? Instead of falling for any number of those run of the mill Prince Charming types, the Lily James iteration (as directed by none other than Billy Shakespeare’s best modern day friend, Sir Kenneth Branagh) has an eye for someone a bit more wise to the world — someone who’d, say, keep her warm once winter has come. And that someone is a de-bearded Richard Madden, also known as Game of Thrones‘ Robb Stark.

And ‘stark’ is certainly the name of the game here because, hoo boy, does the actor sure look different without his gruff bearded-ness from all those days and nights spent a-shivering away in Winterfell. Gone is all that scruffy facial business and in its place? A billion brocades and colors for days. But hey, at least Xaro Xhoan Doxos (Nonzo Anozie) came along for the ride?

Also involved in this live action retelling of one of Disney’s classic fairy tales? Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett, Hayley Atwell (yes, Agent Carter!), and Stellan Skarsgard. Nothing if not a well equipped group of character-driven actorpeople, so, you know, there’s a chance that this could be a fun outing for you and your 10-year-old tween girl cousins that day your aunt and mom are hanging out and they just need some alone time so you valiantly volunteer as tribute in the “occupying their time” games. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a different take on the Red Wedding, this will undoubtedly provide that (which is to say — spoiler alert — a wedding wherein Richard Madden doesn’t die).

Cinderella hits theaters March 13, 2015. Are you also upset to see Madden’s clean-shaven face? Leave your agreements in the comments.

]]>A Guide to the Fairy Tale Characters on ONCE UPON A TIMEhttp://nerdist.com/a-guide-to-the-fairy-tale-characters-on-once-upon-a-time/
http://nerdist.com/a-guide-to-the-fairy-tale-characters-on-once-upon-a-time/#commentsMon, 22 Sep 2014 16:00:22 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=184507ABC’s Once Upon a Time is headed into its fourth season, and there’s a chill in the air. Elsa, Anna, and a few other familiar faces from Disney’s smash hit Frozen are gliding into the story, and while showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have said they aren’t veering too far off the page for this particular fairy tale, that’s not always the case. Several characters from fairy tales and fiction have appeared in the series over the years, and in many cases, their origin stories and motives aren’t what you expect. They’ve been twisted and flipped on their heads from the folklore we know, and it keeps things interesting.

I used my crystal ball (a/k/a my notes) to travel back in time and put together a list of the fairy tale characters we’ve seen so far and whether their backstories have been updated.

Warning: spoilers for seasons 1 – 4 of Once Upon a Time ahead.

The Evil Queen
One of the lead characters in Once Upon a Time, the Evil Queen becomes a villain because of Snow White, but not because Snow White was the fairest of them all. No, in this story Snow White was indirectly responsible for the death of the man the Evil Queen – then known as Regina – loved. Regina then married Snow White’s father and spent her life exacting revenge on Snow White, including casting the spell that took everyone out of the Enchanted Forest and into Storybrooke.

Rumplestiltskin
This Rumplestiltskin is capable of spinning straw into gold, but he’s also known as the Dark One and the Crocodile who is responsible for taking Captain Hook’s left hand. Oh, and he’s the Beast from Beauty and the Beast and the son of Peter Pan. He stays busy. In the Enchanted Realm, he was more powerful than the Evil Queen and even trained her to use magic. Becoming the Dark One twisted him from a good man into a tricksy, manipulative person.

Belle
Poor Belle hasn’t had it easy. When her father Maurice’s realm was threatened, Rumplestiltskin offered to keep it safe if Belle came to his castle and essentially became his housekeeper. She tried to save Rumple from being the Dark One with true love’s kiss, but he kicked her out. This Belle also loves books and used her knowledge to team up with Mulan and hunt a monster. Bad. Ass. When Regina brought everyone to Storybrooke, she locked Belle away for 28 years so Rumple wouldn’t find her.

Snow White
This Snow White is the stepdaughter of the Evil Queen and was pursued by her, but as we’ve discussed, it wasn’t because of the Magic Mirror. Once’s Snow White is pretty awesome because she’s capable of leading the Enchanted Realm and diving into battle without hesitation. She has better shooting form than Hawkeye. Just saying. She is in love with Prince Charming.

Prince Charming
Prince David earned the Charming nickname from Snow White. He was once a shepherd with a twin brother who was going to be King George’s heir. However, when his twin brother died, David was forced to step into his place. He almost ended up in an arranged marriage but meets Snow White and later awakens her from a sleeping curse caused by a poisoned apple with true love’s kiss. It’s much less creepy than it was in the animated film.

The Huntsman
In Once Upon a Time, the Huntsman was raised by wolves. Like in the stories, he worked for the Evil Queen and was hired to kill Snow White. He spared her, and when the Evil Queen found out, she ripped out his heart and used it to control him like a puppet.

Bonus: The Storybrooke alias for the Huntsman is Graham Humbert and Humbert was the name of the character in Disney’sSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Robin Hood
The outlaw who robs from the rich and steals from the poor stays true to his familiar origin story. He has a band of Merry Men and is in love with Maid Marian. He also has connections to the Knave of Hearts/Will Scarlet, Mulan, and Belle.

The Mad Hatter
Before the Mad Hatter went mad, he was a family man with a daughter. Then the Evil Queen came along demanding to be taken to Wonderland to rescue her father (he owns a magical hat that can travel between realms). Unfortunately, he’s beheaded and put back together by the Queen of Hearts and forced to make hats until he creates another magical one. It doesn’t work, and he goes bonkers and becomes the Mad Hatter.

Tinker Bell
Fairies can be rebellious, and when Tinker Bell tries to help the Evil Queen by stealing pixie dust, she gets kicked out of the fairy club by the Blue Fairy. She loses her wings and magic and ends up in Neverland.

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)
Princess Aurora was stuck in a sleeping curse by the witch Maleficent and was rescued by Prince Phillip and Mulan. She knew Phillip for a while before falling to the curse.

Prince Phillip
Besides cursing Aurora, Maleficent turned Phillip into a monster. He was changed back to a human by Belle and Mulan; he then saves Aurora from her sleeping curse.

MulanOnce’s Mulan is pretty freaking awesome. She served in the Emperor’s army in her native land and while she’s tracking down a beast plaguing the lands, she meets Belle. She ends up traveling with Phillip and Aurora, and it’s strongly suggested that Mulan is in love with Aurora.

Ariel (The Little Mermaid)
In Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Ariel was transformed into a human so she could be with Prince Eric, and Once’s origin story is close. Ariel saves Eric from a shipwreck and falls in love with him. She gets legs for 12 hours a year because Ursula gives the merpeople the ability to do that when high tide rises. Also, she saves Snow White from drowning. When she wants to become a human permanently, she asks for Ursula’s help and the Evil Queen pretends to be Ursula. She tries to trick Ariel into sacrificing Snow White, but Ariel stabs Ursula/the Evil Queen in the neck with a dinglehopper. It doesn’t stop Ursula/the Evil Queen from stealing Ariel’s voice.

Maleficent
Maleficent is among the most popular of Disney villains, and she’s definitely rotten in this series. She’s a witch and can change her shape to become a dragon. She battles Prince Charming in this form. She temporarily possesses the Evil Queen’s Dark Curse because the Evil Queen trades it for a sleeping curse to use on Snow White (Maleficent is apparently the expert when it comes to sleeping curses).

Red Riding Hood
Look out for the big bad wolf because it’s actually Red Riding Hood. She can transform into a wolf and will if she doesn’t wear a magical red cloak obtained by her grandmother. Red eventually learns to control her wolf side and teams up with Snow White for adventures. I’d kill for a Red Riding Hood and Snow White spinoff.

Red Riding Hood’s Grandmother
Speaking of Granny, she’s a protective and kick-butt lady. She knows about the wolf curse that plagues Red’s family, and she acquired the enchanted cloak to keep her granddaughter safe. And yes, she wields a crossbow.

The Blue Fairy
The Blue Fairy seemed like the epitome of kindness in Pinocchio, and she is helpful but also a little mean – at least when it comes to her students. We haven’t seen her origin, but we do see her try to help Rumplestiltskin’s son, turn a man named Jiminy into a cricket by his request, make Pinocchio become a real boy, and save Emma and Pinocchio from the curse by coming up with the idea of making the wardrobe from an enchanted tree.

Pinocchio
Pinocchio is a puppet who became a real boy after he saves Geppetto from drowning. The Blue Fairy tells him the spell will last as long as he is selfless, brave, and truthful. Not crazy different from the animated film.

Geppetto
Geppetto carved Pinocchio just like in the movie, and they went on adventures – including being chased by a whale. One difference: Geppetto was an orphan because Jiminy accidentally turned his parents into puppets. Jiminy became a cricket so he could watch over Geppetto.

Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket is the son of con artists but when he accepts a potion from Rumplestiltskin to try to change his fate (hey, when will Merida appear in Once Upon a Time?), he accidentally turns Geppetto’s parents into puppets. Oops.

Captain Hook
This Captain Hook does have a hook instead of a hand (thanks to Rumplestiltskin), but he wasn’t always a pirate and was known as Killian Jones. He used to work for a King, but when he went to Neverland to retrieve a plant, he encountered the villainous and powerful Peter Pan. Events on Neverland led to Killian renaming his ship the Jolly Roger and becoming Captain. Hook encounters Rumplestiltskin’s son Baelfire on Neverland and has a sort of father-son relationship with him.

Peter Pan
You thought Hook’s story was weird? Peter Pan’s is more odd. Peter Pan is actually a guy named Malcolm who is Rumplestiltskin’s father. He wanted to be young forever and so becomes the boy who never grows up. Pan recruits Lost Boys by pretending to be the Pied Piper in the Enchanted Forest. The Shadow that convinced Malcolm to become Peter Pan is also what brought the Darlings to Neverland.

The Darlings
Wendy Darling goes to Neverland in order to save Baelfire – he ended up in London and sacrificed himself to the Shadow in order to protect the Darlings. Wendy unfortunately ends up trapped in Neverland, and her brothers John and Michael Darling spend their lives trying to bring her home.

Wicked Witch of the West
Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West, is the Evil Queen Regina’s half sister. She’s sent away to Oz, but she returns to the Enchanted Forest to learn magic from Rumplestiltskin. When Zelena goes back to Oz, she gets jealousy-induced green skin and becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.

Rapunzel
The story of Rapunzel is twisted in a weird way. She gets trapped in a tower while searching for night root, a plant that takes away fear. Because she’s stuck, her hair has grown extremely long. Note: I have no idea how she’s eating or staying alive while stuck in this tower. Because of the night root, Rapunzel thinks she’s trapped by a witch but it’s only a hallucination. The night root reveals your fears so you can face them, and Rapunzel is scared of herself and of being Queen. No, really. Once she realizes this with the help of Prince Charming, she leaves the tower and goes home.

Grumpy
I won’t go into details about all of the Seven Dwarfs, but Grumpy’s story is sweet because he used to be known as Dreamy. Dreamy the Dwarf. He fell in love with a fairy named Nova, but when their plans to run away together were thwarted, he became Grumpy the Dwarf. Awww.

The Genie/Magic Mirror

The Genie and the Magic Mirror is the same person. What. The Genie falls in love with the Evil Queen, and when the King finds out, he locks the Queen away. The Genie then kills the King, learns that the Queen didn’t really love him and only used him to get rid of the King, and the Genie uses his last wish to become the Magic Mirror so that he can always remain with the Evil Queen. How screwed up is that?

Queen of Hearts
Wonderland is in a different realm than the Enchanted Forest, and the Evil Queen/Regina traps her mother Cora there. Cora becomes the Queen of Hearts because she’s way too ambitious for her own good. Also, she likes being evil. PS: The Evil Queen sends Captain Hook to kill Cora, but Cora and Hook end up working together.

Cinderella
We met Cinderella back in season one. Her story is similar: she’s a house maid in her stepmother’s home and is mistreated. However, when the Fairy Godmother arrives to get her to the ball, Rumplestiltskin destroys her because he wants the Fairy Godmother’s wand. He then agrees to help Cinderella for an unnamed price which ends being her first child. Note to self: never make deals when you don’t know the price.

Other appearances of note include: Dr. Frankenstein, King Midas, Hansel and Gretel, the Woodcutter, Gaston, the Caterpillar, the Knave of Hearts, Sir Lancelot, the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, the Dragon, Medusa, Lumiere, Blackbeard, Glinda the Good Witch, and Dorothy Gale.

Watch the season four premiere of Once Upon a Time on Sunday, September 28th, at 8:00pm ET/PT on ABC.

Don’t forget to head to the comments and let me know which origin story change you liked the most or least. And because it’s inevitable, go ahead and let me know who I missed.

]]>http://nerdist.com/a-guide-to-the-fairy-tale-characters-on-once-upon-a-time/feed/97Disney’s Betting You Still Want to Be ENCHANTEDhttp://nerdist.com/disneys-betting-you-still-want-to-be-enchanted/
http://nerdist.com/disneys-betting-you-still-want-to-be-enchanted/#commentsSun, 06 Jul 2014 17:00:57 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=164079For a film that made more than 340 million dollars worldwide, Enchanted has been awfully slow to generate a sequel. But with changes in Disney management and Amy Adams’ star on the rapid rise, the wait is understandable. If, however, you’re still wondering what happens to Adams’ displaced fairy tale princess Giselle and her handsome suitor Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) after their happily ever after, you’re in luck: the studio has confirmed that the sequel’s screenplay is still in development, written by J. David Stem and David N. Weiss, the duo that scripted The Smurfs and Daddy Day Care; after Stepmom screenwriter Jessie Nelson penned an earlier draft.

Deadline reports that after seven years the Enchanted sequel is moving forward under writers Stem and Weiss and the previously announced director Anne Fletcher (who helmed The Proposal and The Guilt Trip). Casting has yet to be announced, so it’s too soon to say if the principals who helped make the first Enchanted such a smash will return. The multi-talented Adams — whose work as Giselle was as meticulous as any of the more gravitas-laden performances she’s delivered since — is essential of course. But James Marsden’s turn as the clueless Prince Edward was the movie’s most unexpected delight, so one hopes he’ll be back too… What do you think — would you like to return to the world of Enchanted? Or did the first film say (and sing) all that needed to be said about these animated characters come to life?

]]>http://nerdist.com/disneys-betting-you-still-want-to-be-enchanted/feed/2Sofia Coppola To Direct Live-Action THE LITTLE MERMAID For Universalhttp://nerdist.com/sofia-coppola-to-direct-live-action-the-little-mermaid-for-universal/
http://nerdist.com/sofia-coppola-to-direct-live-action-the-little-mermaid-for-universal/#commentsWed, 19 Mar 2014 02:30:06 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=124147Director Sofia Coppola, best known for her films Lost in Translation, The Bling Ring, Marie Antoinette and the amazing The Virgin Suicides, has been tapped by Universal to direct a live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, according to a report today in Deadline. Caroline Thompson, best known for writing Edward Scissorhands, is rewriting the script.

The modern, slightly more adult re-telling of classic fairy tales has been almost as big as superhero movies in Hollywood these past few years. Disney launched Alice in Wonderland and Oz the Great and Powerful to success (financially, anyway) and look to have similar good fortune with the upcoming Maleficent and next year’s Cinderella. Universal already had some success with Snow White and the Huntsmen, which showcased a terrific performance from Charlize Theron and an equally terrible one from Kristen Stewart. Universal is now looking to get to another public domain fairy tale before Disney can make the attempt, and they’ve set their sights on The Little Mermaid.

The biggest obstacle that Universal’s adaptation faces is that they can’t use any of the elements that were original to the Disney animated version that most people know. The names and overall appearances of Ariel, Prince Eric, King Triton and Ursula are unique to the Disney version, so they can’t use those. (ABC’s Once Upon A Time series however, can use the names, thanks to being owned by Disney.) They probably can’t even make the Little Mermaid a redhead. Of course, the ending of the original Hans Christian Anderson story was much different (and darker) than the animated classic, and would fit perfectly within Sofia Coppola’s wheelhouse. But I can’t see Universal spending millions on a fairy tale where the princess doesn’t get her prince and turns into sea foam at the end… although it would be awesome and ballsy of them if they went in that direction. I’d get in line for that one right now.

]]>http://nerdist.com/sofia-coppola-to-direct-live-action-the-little-mermaid-for-universal/feed/4Fairy Tale Chat with FROZEN Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Leehttp://nerdist.com/fairy-tale-chat-with-frozen-directors-chris-buck-and-jennifer-lee/
http://nerdist.com/fairy-tale-chat-with-frozen-directors-chris-buck-and-jennifer-lee/#commentsTue, 29 Oct 2013 20:30:16 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=95262Disney Animation has always been known for taking well-known stories and fairy tales and upending them a bit to create something recognizable as the original text, but undeniably different and unique to the House That Walt Built. For its latest animated epic, Disney turned its attention toward Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, but, as it did with Tangled, reformed it into a new thing entirely: Frozen. At a press event at Disney Animation Studios last month, we spoke to the film’s two directors, Tarzan director Chris Buck and Wreck-It Ralph writer Jennifer Lee, about how the classic fable was changed, the development of the characters, and the importance of modernism in Disney animated musicals.

NERDIST: Disney’s known for doing these revamped fairy tales and The Snow Queen is a fairly well-known fairy tale which you changed quite a bit; how close did you feel like you needed to stick to any existing story?

JENNIFER LEE: We definitely had free rein. It’s always about telling the best story, but I think that there’s also this element of it being a powerful story for a reason, and part of me thinks it’s foolish to not explore that, because you’re missing an opportunity. We want these stories to be timeless and timely. The timeless qualities should come from these types of movies, these fairy tales, Aesop Fables, etc. There’s a universality to it that resonates with everyone. That’s what The Snow Queen did for us, especially the theme, which is love conquering negativity, but for us it’s love conquering fear. It’s more contemporary but the same concept. That was just brilliant, and we didn’t want to lose that, but at the same time, you know that it’s a different medium, it’s a very poetic and symbolic piece of literature and you don’t want to say that it is a concrete film—they don’t just flip flop, it’s very ethereal. You don’t want to shy away from what you need to do to make a film a film.

N: At this point, Disney has already made so many animated features and they’re always so different; How much pressure was there to be like, “This is a story that not only hasn’t been told like this but also will look completely different to anything else?”

CHRIS BUCK: It’s always about trying to do something different. We all know the legacy, and we all know all the films that Disney has done. We don’t want to repeat that; We want to do something new and fresh, but you also don’t want to alienate a general audience either. So, what do people expect from a Disney film? You have to think about those things, but how do we surprise them, how do we give them something new and fresh to look at and still make them feel comfortable watching a Disney movie? So there’s that kind of challenge.

JL: Coming from Walt — his own philosophy and then one [Disney Animation chief] John Lasseter really supports — is, you’re not doing your job if you’re not constantly defying expectations, evolving as filmmakers, making it bigger or different; If you keep repeating the same thing, you’re failing the audience. Our big thing is to feel like we’re doing things that I’ve never seen before myself or things that haven’t been represented in the way that I wish they had been represented and things like that. They really encourage that here, because, to them, it’s what makes each film individual and unique ­and worthy of going out to the world.

CB: Sometimes we’re the hardest critics in saying that, “We’ve seen that before, we did that three pictures ago. So, let’s try something new, something a little different.”

N: Since animated films develop over such a long period of time, do you ever come to the point where you have to add a new character to fulfill this new role in the story you’ve just come up with?

JL: There are these characters that just come in and out and we have a couple — we have an actor who’s fantastic who’s in the film, Alan Tudyk, who we tried out characters on because — I worked with him on Ralph; He’s so flexible and he’s so talented that we would just bring in a scene to play and he helped us a lot. He plays the Duke in our film, the Duke of Weselton, and to find the Duke, we worked with him a lot. You always pivot the story around the main characters, particularly Anna (played by Kristen Bell), and every character has to hang off of them, and if they don’t, they don’t belong. If there’s something represented and doesn’t put the pressure on the character in the way you need to, you need to bring someone in.

CB: And take characters out, we’ve done that too.

JL: You try to, even in the early stages, try to get some character designs going the minute you have an idea, and it wouldn’t go into modeling until you know they’re staying, but you’ll do it because you just never know. And suddenly we’ve got a new character we have to animate and he has to be rigged and all that. We certainly don’t put that on them until we know they’re staying. But definitely in the 2D design of them, we’ve got a lot of those, and they’re this cute little collection of characters that aren’t in the film.

N: Is that the kind of thing where you could reuse the characters for something else?

CB: They’re very specific for this movie. Yeah, I don’t think so.

N: Which character changed the most through the process of making the film and which stayed mostly the same?

CB: Elsa, for sure, changed the most. Originally, she was much more villainous. It’s very easy to go in that direction for that type of character, but as the time went and we evolved the story, she became much more three-dimensional. Before, I thought she was one-dimensional but a very fully fleshed out character. Olaf [the snowman voiced by Josh Gad] changed a bit; he had a little bit of an angry edge to him before we decided to say he’s just innocent; he’s a total innocent that loves everything, comes at the world like he’s just born and everything is new to him. They’ve all evolved in certain ways.

JL: In some ways, Sven [the reindeer] changed the least because we were never going to have him talk. But you know, how his role changed was it got bigger and bigger, particularly as we went along and we brought Jonathan [Groff, the voice of Kristoff] in and he started doing the voice for him, talking for him, that was fun. Anna always had this optimistic spirit in terms — maybe not in the first, first drafts, but she just got stronger, more dynamic. I think there was a lot of pressure on that character as the lead, so people had a lot of opinions on her and how she should be and for us, really being able to strip it away and work with Kristen, and come up with who we thought she should be. It took a while but with her it was always like a slow climb up a hill but with Elsa it was like a BOOM kind of climb up.

N: This movie obviously has characters that sing in the film, something that Disney has done for a long time, but it’s kind of fallen away. At what point did you think that you were going to make this into an actual musical film?

CB: From the beginning, it was always pitched as a movie with songs in it.

JL: One thing that we’re aware of, and I think part of why it has fallen away, is old stereotypes versus reality, the kind of thing that if you say you think that it’s the film that is going to be like from the 1930’s or something or it’s going to skew young from the 80’s or something. I don’t think we’re afraid of doing music, we just wanted to make sure that in what we were doing, we were doing the 2013 version. There are a lot of stories in the past that were a lot more straight forward with simpler plots and arcs, and you could sustain the playful musical, and we’ve got something big and complex, and the music has to keep up with that and be smart, and [songwriters] Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez were perfect to do that. We’re hoping that people will see a similarity yet see it as a 2013 version of it, something very fresh.

CB: Bob and Kristen give it their own spin, their lyrics. It’ll be very fresh.

N: For the cast, because it is a musical, there’s a very high Broadway pedigree. What were you looking for on the acting side of it?

CB: I think they all had their own separate challenges. With Anna, it had to be that optimistic spirit, that fearlessness and humor. Humor was huge for Anna and we always like to give our main characters as much humor as sidekicks. Making the main characters as entertaining as possible is the best way to go.

JL: Particularly with Kristen Bell and Jonathan Groff, Josh was obvious, but for them, the playfulness that Jonathan brought, we knew he could do that and be funny.

CB: Elsa was tough; you can always find someone with the strength but not the, as we had with Idina Menzel, the vulnerability in her voice, because Elsa goes through quite a bit in this move.

JL: I don’t think that anyone could do Elsa but her. It was such a hard and specific thing, yet there was no one else. I feel that way about Kristen as well, obviously, to me, she is Anna. That was so hard; to do something like it, an iconic character that is magical and always has to be larger than life yet has to be vulnerable at the same time. I don’t think anyone could have done it but her. She’s just perfect.

N: Nobody’s even attempted, in any iteration of The Snow Queen, making her a human being.

JL: It’s true, the original she’s very symbolic and everything about her is thematic, it’s not real, so we had to create a full person.

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You can see the latest fairy tale brought to Disney life when Frozen storms into theaters Wednesday, November 27th, just in time for Thanksgiving.